INNISFAIL – The region’s Hall of Fame singing cowboy is back at his beloved stomping ground this month to host the 45th annual Country Music Pick-Nic.
The event hosted by Ivan Daines will run for three days – Aug. 13 -15 – at the Daines Rodeo Ranch, located just six kilometres north of Innisfail off the C & E Trail.
Daines, who was inducted into the Alberta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019, is excited to have his beloved music front and centre again after he, his followers, friends and heroes endured the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People have gotten through it, I believe. And I hope it’s over and I think it’s over but I don’t have the answers,” said Daines, noting country icon Charley Pride died from COVID-19 late last year. “It’s not very nice but you can’t change things. I sure think it’s been tough and I hope everything turns out good, like immediately.”
Daines did host a pick-nic last year but it was modified to comply with provincial COVID restrictions. This year the restrictions have been lifted but he still plans on calling provincial health officials to follow any recommendations they might offer.
Nevertheless, preparations for the mid-month outdoor party on the grounds of the Daines Rodeo Ranch are well underway. Daines is fully committed to his annual show, but more importantly for everyone who performs and attends.
“It shouldn’t be called Ivan Daines pick-nic. It should be called everybody’s country music pick-nic,” said Daines.
For citizens thinking about attending the event ticket prices have been set. Pre-sale one-day tickets are $25 and $75 for all three days. For youth between the ages of 10 and 17 one-day tickets cost $10 and $20 for all three days. Kids under the age of 10 will get in free.
Daines estimates there could be up to 50 Canadian and American songwriters and musicians who will be attending and performing before the hundreds of attendees and campers who typically roll in off the C & E Trail. There will also be the Central Alberta Karaoke Championship, horse-training sessions from Edmonton’s Tom Durocher, nightly bonfires and a beer garden.
But most of all the annual pick-nic is about the music and Daines is personally prepared. During the many dark months of COVID he hunkered down and wrote a pile of new music, including a song called Goin' Back to Texas. He also recently fell in love with a song called Dear Rodeo, a tune written and performed by Cody Johnson, an American country music singer-songwriter.
“I think it is one of the greatest songs ever written,” said Daines, a former National Finals Rodeo champion.
So much so he was inspired to pen and record one of his own called To Dear Rodeo: Honor and Answer, which he dedicated to Johnson and all cowgirls and cowboys, including those who have passed on.
That song helped Daines find a way for this year’s pick-nic to honour the many Alberta men and women of country music, as well of those who should be saluted for other types of accomplishments.
“If someone has done some great things in their life I honour them, and we are presenting the honours and they get a medallion as one of the Alberta men and women of country music, and also ones for Alberta men and women of honour,” said Daines. “It’s just my way of saluting great people.”
